Napoleon Hill
In fact there were many men of ability in the town, but
they had been making the mistake which is so commonly made by us all, of trying to solve their problem through one
single source, whereas there were actually THREE SOURCES of
solution available to them.
$100,000.00 was too much for one company to assume, for the
construction of a bridge, but when the cost was distributed between
three interested parties the amount to be borne by each was more
reasonable.
The question might be asked: "Why did not some of the local townsmen think of this three-way solution?" In the first place they were so close to their problem that they failed to take a perspective, bird's-eye view of it, which would have suggested the solution.
This, also, is a common mistake, and one that is always avoided by great Leaders. In the second place these townspeople had never before co-ordinated their efforts or worked as an organized group with the sole purpose in mind of finding a way to get a street car line built into town. This, also, is another common error made by men in all walks of life that of failure to work in unison, in a thorough spirit of cooperation.
I, being an outsider, had less difficulty in getting co-operative action than one of their own group might have had. Too often there is a spirit of selfishness in small communities which prompts each individual to think that his ideas should prevail. It is an important part of the Leader's responsibility to induce people to subordinate their own ideas and interests for the good of the whole, and this applies to matters of a civic, business, social, political, financial or industrial nature.
Success, no matter what may be one's conception of that term, is nearly always a question of one's ability to get others to subordinate their own individualities and follow a Leader. The Leader who has the Personality and the Imagination to induce his followers to accept his plans and carry them out faithfully is always an able Leader.
TIME is the mighty hand that rocks the eternal cradle of progress and nurses struggling humanity through that period when man needs protection against his own ignorance.
The next lesson, on IMAGINATION, will take you still further into the
art of tactful Leadership. In fact Leadership and Imagination are so
closely allied and so essential for success that one cannot be
successfully applied without the other. Initiative is the moving force
that pushes the Leader ahead, but Imagination is the guiding spirit
that tells him which way to go.
Imagination enabled the author of this course to analyze the Lumberport bridge problem, break it up into its three component parts, and assemble these parts in a practical working plan.